NEGRIL, Westmoreland – More than 60 teachers from 30 schools in western Jamaica that participated in the Jamaica Observer’s Study Centre were presented with awards last Thursday, in a move the newspaper said was in keeping with its firm commitment to education.

“We believe in education,” said the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Paget deFreitas.

“We believe in the capacity of Jamaica to be great, and the society is great. But it could be greater if it has comparative advantage in the capacity to manipulate information and master technology,” he said.

DeFreitas was speaking at the awards ceremony held at the Beaches Sandy Bay hotel in Negril.

DeFreitas told the gathering that the Observer had a stake in education as the paper could not prosper in an ignorant environment.

“We understand that societies will quickly run to evolutionary cul-de-sac in the absence of education,” he said, adding that the process of democracy could also be easily “manipulated and undermined in an environment of ignorance”.

In underscoring the Observer’s commitment to education, deFreitas pointed out that 10 years ago the newspaper took the decision to invest heavily in education. At that time, the newspaper engaged the services of George Abrahams (now deceased), an educator who had a great track record of getting students to score high grades in the now abolished Common Entrance Examination.

Common Entrance lecture series were subsequently introduced in the newspaper, and single lessons in CXC – written by skilled teachers – followed later.

DeFreitas said that after the abolition of the Common Entrance, the newspaper then approached the Ministry of Education for guidance from persons developing the GSAT curricula. He added that the Observer GSAT series was further advanced under the guidance of Trinidadian Betty Ramesar, who he described as a “detailed, hardworking and excellent performer”.

Meanwhile, 15 western schools walked away with special awards on Thursday. However, Cornaldi Avenue Primary in Montego Bay was the toast of the western schools, copping all of three special awards courtesy of the Jamaica Observer, sponsors Maggi and National Commercial Bank (NCB) and Trade Winds.

Cornaldi Avenue Primary was first in the primary/all-age category in St James and first in the western performer primary/all-age school category. The school also won the Michael Clarke award for the Most Improved School.

Michael Clarke is the former Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) president who died recently.

Cynthia Munroe, principal of Cornaldi Primary, said the GSAT lecture series was instrumental in helping the school get three government scholarships last school year, and encouraged other schools to participate in Study Centre.

The school purchases 589 copies of the Observer every Tuesday.

“I believe that it contributed to our getting three government scholarships this past year,” Munroe continued.

“I think this is a very good product that schools should support. We will continue to support this product because it is a good one,” she said, adding that “I would encourage all schools who are not yet on board . to get on board”.